Cineware 3D for 2D Design

MAXON releases a plugin for Adobe Illustrator artists
By Ko Maruyama

3D for 2D DesignMAXON releases a plugin for Adobe Illustrator artists

To call this a new way to design with 3D in 2D may not fully explain the power of the plugin. Taking advantage of the same CINEMA 4D bridge power that After Effects users enjoy, Illustrators are now able to easily wrap their 2D designs onto 3D objects as textures directly within Adobe Illustrator - working in the space that they're expert in. Using familiar language, this will open a new way of working with 3D objects for Adobe Illustrator CC artists.

JUST DRAG YOUR ILLUSTRATION TO A DESIRED TEXTURE TARGET

While Adobe's video products, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects have their own way to design with 3D objects and CINEMA 4D artwork, Adobe Illustrator designers have had limited ways to produce print work dynamically with MAXON's software. The new free Cineware plugin allows Adobe Illustrator artists to have more creative control over the 3D elements that they use in their compositions.

You don't need to know how to make 3D content to take advantage of this Adobe Illustrator plugin, but if you do - you can use CINEMA 4D to create anything you want and use it within your Illustrator pipeline.

If you're interested in the plugin, it's free. If you decide that you want to step up to create your own custom geometry, MAXON is offering an upgrade path for current CreativeCloud owners.

MAXON, the leading developer of the professional 3D modeling, animation, painting and rendering solution Cinema 4D, today announced the release of Cineware for Illustrator. This new plugin allows artists and designers to add and edit 3D objects directly within Adobe Illustrator CC, the industry-standard vector graphics application included in the Adobe Creative Cloud.

Cineware for Illustrator uses the same powerful 3D engine as Cinema 4D, MAXON's industry-leading, intuitive, professional 3D application. Users can import any Cinema 4D file, and tweak the view, lighting and textures in order to integrate 3D elements with 2D designs or use 3D elements as templates when creating vector artwork in Adobe Illustrator. MAXON has partnered with Turbosquid, the leading online source for 3D models, to provide Cineware for Illustrator users a 'jump start' into the third dimension with a collection of ready-to-use 3D models including common product packaging and other 3D objects. And, of course, users of Cinema 4D can create and share their own custom 3D content for use in Adobe Illustrator.

Motion designers have enjoyed similar integration of Cinema 4D technology within Adobe After Effects CC since the introduction of the Cineware bridge in 2013. Cineware for Illustrator offers even more power, allowing designers to adjust object visibility, textures and lighting from within Adobe Illustrator. This introduces a powerful workflow for designers to visualize product labels, incorporate rich 3D content into Illustrator composites, or even arrange 3D elements as guides for form and perspective when creating vector artwork.

'Cinema 4D has long offered a fantastic, easy-to-learn toolset for product visualization and graphic design,' says Harald Egel, managing partner at MAXON Computer GmbH. 'With Cineware for Illustrator we're making both the Cinema 4D toolset and 3D in general more accessible to designers, and plan to develop this workflow even further in the future.'

Cineware for Adobe Illustrator Feature Highlights 3D Objects: Rotate, position and show/hide individual 3D objects from any Cinema 4D scene, all within Adobe Illustrator. Materials: Adjust the color, reflection, luminance, transparency, and bump directly within Adobe Illustrator. Users can even apply vector artwork to the surface of 3D models. Cameras: Switch between pre-set cameras or use simple navigation tools to choose preferred viewing angle. Lights: Enable or disable lights, and change their color to set a mood and emphasize shapes. Integrate: Workflow allows easy removal of the background by choosing the automatically created alpha map so 3D elements can be integrated into existing vector artwork.

AvailabilityCineware for Illustrator is available at no cost for MacOS and Windows 10 on the MAXON web site.

Ko Maruyama is a freelance animator in Los Angeles. In addition to working on film and broadcast animations, Ko teaches at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design - focusing on motion design. When working, writing or testing software allows, you can find him lending a hand in the After Effects board and lurking among the Cinema4D, Visual Effects and Photoshop posts within the DMNForums.Related Keywords:IBCShow, NABShow, animation, Mac, CreativeMac, maxon, SIGGRAPH, C4D, 3D, ipisoft, animationartist, Adobe, photoshop, photography, comicon, Automatic Duck, demo, VFX, motion graphics